118 BRIGHT ON GRAPE CULTURE. 



atmosphere of the house may circuhite entirely uuder 

 the border without obstruction. 



. This completes the detached and divided border. It 

 consists, in fact, of a huge brick pit, separated from the 

 front, bottom, and inside of the house by air chambers 

 four inches wide, and divided into sections, or large 

 pots or tubs, by brick walls. Each section or division 

 is two feet wide, three feet long, and two feet deep, and 

 will contain soil enough to grow and fruit a vine fifteen 

 feet long, (with the addition of manures and special 

 fertilizers, by top-dressing,) for many years. 



Now what are the advantages of such a border ? We 

 answer, the roots of the vines are placed entirely beyond 

 the reach of frost and rain ; and we have the most per- 

 fect control over the temperature and moisture of the 

 whole border, at top and bottom. The border does not 

 even touch the front wall of the house, which in cold 

 weather must be a constant conductor of heat away from 

 the border, doing immense mischief, especially in a 

 forcing house. We can keep the border perfectly dry 

 as long as we please in the spring, and we can dry it off 

 as soon and as completely as we please in the fall. The 

 bottom of the border must always have an atmosphere 

 about it of the same temperature as the top-soil, or 

 nearly so. We avoid the expense and care of a large 

 border, which we are convinced is not only entirely un- 

 necessary, but often highly injurious to the health and 

 fruitfulness of the vines. 



Again, with regard to the divisions into sections or 



